Initial-buckle.



L. SANDERS.

INITIAL BUOKLE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 13.1914

1 9 1 34 1 g D Patanted MM. 30, 1915. i

mu J umul WITNESSES HWE/VTOI? ATTORNEYS over the bottom 1% of the body. to grip the OUIS SANDERS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

INITIAL-BUG KLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 36), 1915.

Application filed June13, 1914. Serial No. 844,925.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Louis SANDERS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented-a new and Improved Initial-Buckle, of which the following is a full,,clear, and exact description.

bodying my invention and applied to a belt;

Fig. 2 is a side view; Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the face plates in the raised position; Figs. 1 and 5 are transverse sections respectively on the lines l--fl and 5-5 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6 is a rear view of the face plate detached.

1n embodying my invention in a buckle of the character indicated, the body 10 of the buckle is generally of known shape, having any suitable means 11 at one end for permanently securing one end a of the belt, and the other end being provided with a gripping roller 12, to frictionally engage and adjustably hold the opposite end a. of the belt. The said roller, in the form of buckle to which the preferred form of the invention is particularly applicable, is formed with slots 13 in the sides of the body 10, the roller 12 being movable in 'said slots belt in the well known manner between the said roller and the front 10 of the body.

The front 10 of the body 10 formed with a longitudinal central opening 1 1 across which extend elements 15 hearing initial letters. The said letter elements 15 are formed with tongues 16 at the top and bottom, and I prefer to produce shoulders at the bases of the said tongues. which shoulders, in the illustrated example,.are formed by means of beads 17., 4). The eX treme ends of the tongues 16 on the letter plates are engaged by a separate face plate letter plates, for changing the same.

18, which 1 form with longitudinal grooves in which the extreme ends of the tongues 16 have sliding movement and frictionally engage the walls thereof. The said grooves 18 are produced by forming corrugations or beads on the face plate 18, along the top and bottom.

The face plate 18 has a central, longitudinal opening 19 in the front thereof, to eX- pose the several letters. Said face plate is hinged as at 20, by any suitable means to one end of the body 10, so that the plate may swing downward onto the body, to overlie the front 10*, as shown in Fig. 1, or the plate may be swung away from the body, as in Fig. 3, to afford access to the Adjacent to the hinged end of the face plate, recesses 21 are formed in side flanges 22 on said face plate. The walls 21 of these recesses conform to the walls 13 of the recesses 13 in which the gripping roller 12 moves. Thus when the face plate 18 is closed down over the letter plates 15, the walls 21 accommodate the movements of the roller 12. In order to fasten the face plate in the closed position, I provide the side flanges 22 with protuberances 23 at the inner sides of said flanges near the free end of the face plate, and these protuberances are adapted to snap into corresponding depressions 24 in the sides of the .body 10. The position and character of the co-acting fastening elements 23, 24, provide for effectively holding the face plate in position without in any way interfering with the freedom of movement of the end a of the belt in the buckle body.

The face plate vl8 is preferably curved longitudinally, and the shouldered formation 17 at the bases of the tongues 16 springs into the opening 19 in the face plate 18, as the letter plates 15 are slid along the interior grooves presented by the corrugations 18*, it being understood that the material of said letter plates is sufficiently resilient to permit the same to be forced into place. A stop lug 25 may be provided on the face plate 18, to limitthe inward sliding movement of the letterplates 15.

The described construction permits of the letter plates being readily interchanged, insures their positive retention in position, and the formand arrangement of the face plate are such as to very effectively disgulse its character as a means for holding letters.

A buckle of'the character deseribed, com prising a body, a separate cover plate at the front of the body, said plate having longitu- 'dinally ranging side flanges, there being corrugations in the flanges at'the juncture of said flanges with the cover plate, said flanges-extending rearwardly from the corrugations at substantially right angles to the front plate and overlapping the-side surfaces, of the'bc-dy, said corrugations presenting interior longitudinal grooves, and

letter plates having end members slidably fitting in said grooves in frictional "engagement with the walls thereof, said front plate having an opening across v'vhich the letter plates extend.

."In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

- Witnesses:

PHILIP D. RoLLI-IAUs, ALFRED H. Davis.

LOUIS SANDERS. v 

